Guac App Review — Effortless Goal-Based Saving

Self-directed saving seems easy enough. You set a goal (say, a down payment for a new car), a dollar amount, and the date you’d like to reach the goal. You figure out how much of each paycheck to set aside to make it happen. And then you dutifully transfer funds from your checking account to your savings account each payday.

Of course, it’s not that easy. Emergencies happen. Impulse buys beckon. Accountability falters. 

That’s where the Guac app comes in. Guac is a simple, streamlined savings app that helps you save for goals automatically, minimizing the effort involved — and your risk of falling behind or ditching your goals altogether. If you’ve ever struggled to put money away for the future, Guac is for you.

What Is the Guac App?

Guac is a financial technology app that helps you set and save for financial goals. You define each goal (say, “new car” or “vacation”), target amount, and deadline.

And then you’re off. Guac’s core feature is a percentage-based savings tool that automatically sets aside and saves a portion of every purchase toward your goals. This is different from the usual method of goal-based savings, where you set aside a fixed dollar amount or percentage of each paycheck.

To reach your goals faster, Guac recommends saving at least 10% of each purchase, but you can customize the amount based on the goal’s size, deadline, and what you can afford to save from week to week and month to month. 

You can track your progress toward each goal with Guac’s daily analytics toolkit and adjust your savings percentage accordingly. When you reach your goal, check if it’s available for purchase in the Guac Marketplace, which features a growing inventory of experiences (travel, events) and merchandise (footwear, fashion, beauty products, and more). Eligible Guac Marketplace purchases earn cash back with no fees.

What Sets the Guac App Apart?

Don’t let Guac’s simple, user-friendly design fool you. It’s a potent goal-oriented savings tool that rewards you for making sound financial decisions. These three attributes really set it apart from other financial apps:

• Save a Flexible Amount With Every Purchase. Guac lets you save what you can, when you can. While Guac recommends you save at least 10% of each purchase, there’s no upper or lower limit.
• Set Multiple Goals at Once. You can set multiple goals in the Guac app at once and save toward them all. Finally, a financial technology app that acknowledges life’s complexities.
• Earn Cash Back on Guac Marketplace Purchases. The Guac Marketplace isn’t merely a place to reward yourself for reaching your savings goals. It’s another opportunity to save, thanks to a robust cash-back program that returns a portion of what you pay toward eligible purchases.

Is Guac Legit?

Yes, the Guac app is legitimate.

Guac is a simple solution to help you save toward your goals faster and more efficiently — and to have some fun doing it. Its marketplace platform carries a wide and ever-expanding range of merchandise and experiences.

Guac has hundreds of positive user reviews and a multiyear track record of user success. Ultimately, you’re responsible for meeting the savings goals you set in Guac, but the app certainly won’t hold you back from doing so.

Key Features of the Guac App

These are the most important features of the Guac app.

Setting Savings Goals

You can set savings goals with just a few taps in the Guac app. Large or small, it doesn’t matter: Simply specify what the goal is (“vacation,” “new shoes,” “emergency fund”) and set a dollar amount and deadline.

You can set more than one goal at once, which is a good thing considering you probably have more than one thing to save for at any given time. Your savings sit in an FDIC-insured savings account with nbkc bank, so your Guac balance enjoys the same protections as your “regular” savings account balance (if you have one).

Saving As You Spend

Guac’s key innovation is making it effortless to save a significant portion of every purchase you make. This is an improvement on the usual way of doing things, where you manually (or automatically, if you prefer) save a chunk of each paycheck.

You specify how much you want to save as a percentage of the purchase. Guac recommends at least 10% to stay on track to reach your savings goals, but you can set any amount. If you have multiple savings goals active at once, you can set a percentage for each goal.

Guac takes it from there. When you make a purchase with a linked payment card or bank account, Guac automatically calculates how much you’ll save and adds it to the purchase amount. The savings amount then transfers to your Guac account and the purchase value goes to the merchant (like usual). 

The actual amount you save with each purchase is (usually) lower than the amount you’d save from each paycheck if you chose to go the traditional route. But because you make multiple purchases every week — perhaps every day — your savings add up quickly.

Goal Tracking (Analytics)

Guac has a simple analytics toolkit that helps you stay on track to reach your goals. You can see your progress in dollar and percentage terms, plus daily updates as to whether you remain on track to hit your target amount by the deadline based on your spending patterns and savings percentage. 

If Guac thinks you’re on track, keep doing what you’re doing. If it looks like you could fall short, Guac might suggest improvements, like upping your savings percentage.

Guac Marketplace

Ready to reward yourself for a savings job well done? Head over to the Guac Marketplace, a growing ecommerce portal featuring merchandise and experiences in a variety of categories:

• Fashion and apparel
• Footwear
• Beauty products
• Automotive products
• Events (like concerts and festivals)
• Travel (yes, you can book travel through Guac’s partners)

You’ll find these well-known brands (among others) in the Guac Marketplace:

• Alaska Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• Marriott 
• IHG (the hospitality family)
• Jimmy Choo
• Sephora
• Puma
• Cole Haan
• Bloomingdales
• Saks Off 5th

And you can earn cash back on eligible purchases here, with no fees. Just use your linked payment card or bank account to complete the purchase.

Advantages of the Guac App

Why use Guac? These are its most potent advantages.

• Set and Fund Multiple Goals at the Same Time. Life is rarely orderly enough to focus on one savings goal at a time. So why should Guac? You can create and fund multiple goals at once here.
• Save As You Spend, Not As You Earn. Guac helps you save as you spend by adding and setting aside a fixed amount of every purchase. This is a big improvement over the old-style “save as you earn” method, where long-term accountability is a challenge.
• Stay on Top of Your Savings With Simple Analytics. Speaking of accountability, Guac’s simple analytics and daily updates help keep you on track to reach your savings goals. Most traditional savings accounts don’t offer this level of support.
• Enjoy One-Stop Shopping in the Guac Marketplace. The Guac Marketplace boasts hundreds of items and experiences in beauty, fashion, footwear, travel, and more. You can set savings goals based on what’s available here — for example, a vacation featuring a Marriott hotel stay and an Alaska Airlines flight — or simply reward yourself for a savings job well done.
• Earn Cash Back on Eligible Guac Marketplace Purchases. You can earn cash back on eligible Marketplace purchases made with your connected card or account, helping you reach your next savings goal faster.

Disadvantages of the Guac App

Guac is great, but it does have a few downsides worth noting. 

• No Interest on Savings Balances. Guac’s savings balances do sit in an FDIC-insured savings account, but they don’t earn interest. This is a drawback relative to traditional savings accounts, which pay decent yields these days.
• Can Only Connect One Card or Bank Account at a Time. For best results, you need to connect your primary payment card or bank account to your Guac app. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on potential savings. 
• Limited Cash Back on Purchases. Guac earns cash back on purchases in the Guac Marketplace, but it doesn’t have a general cash-back program like many rewards debit cards and credit cards. 

Final Word

If you’ve ever had trouble sticking to a savings goal or schedule, the Guac app is made for you. 

It’s a straightforward, nearly seamless savings tool that can help you reach your savings goals faster and reward yourself appropriately when you do. It improves upon the traditional approach to goal-based saving and fosters accountability without being too heavy-handed about it. It’s free (and fun) to use.

Try it today and see what all the buzz is about.